Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!
Today we are taking a closer look at the recent history of Belarus at the contest. It has been an interesting three years for Belarus at Eurovision with three very diverse entries. Although they haven’t been the most successful years for the nation, it seems to fit in well with their history as a whole which has plenty of ups and downs! Now let’s get to the recaps, and then it will be up to you to vote for the Best of the Bunch!
Belarus 2016
Belarus have become known for their weird and wonderful entries at Eurovision, and 2016 certainly wasn’t an exception to that. Well, perhaps it wasn’t the actual song or performance that was overly radical, but the lead up to the contest certainly pushed some boundaries! Through a national final, it was decided that Ivan would represent the nation with his song Help You Fly, a rock inspired song. Before the contest, it was revealed that Ivan had some unusual requests for his stage performance, with the most notable being that he wanted to perform naked, and surrounded by live wolves (yes, you heard me right). It was clear that this wasn’t going to happen, but it certainly helped promote the song – good or bad! Despite the publicity, it wasn’t enough to qualify to the final, finishing in 12th with 84 points.
Belarus 2017
The following year, Belarus went a little more traditional with their Eurovision entry. It was once again selected through a national final, and it was decided that Naviband would represent the nation with their song Story Of My Life. This entry went into the record book as the first and currently only Belarusian entry performed in national language! It was a beautiful and uplifting entry that had big potential to bring Belarus back to the final after two years of non-qualification, and that potential was reached – only just. The song qualified into the final in 9th place, and in the final it reached 17th place with 83 points.
Belarus 2018
That brings us to this year, which in true Belarusian style, was not free of drama! After a controversial national selection, it was Alekseev who would be representing Belarus with the English language song Forever. With a huge fan group backing him, he went into the contest with a lot of support but unfortunately for Belarus, they were stuck in a difficult semi-final. At Eurovision the stage performance definitely lived up to the weird and wonderful Belarus we have come to appreciate at Eurovision with some interesting camera work cross magic tricks. Beyond that, it just wasn’t enough to get Belarus to the final, finishing in 16th place with 65 points.
So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!
If you want more Best of the Bunch from Belarus, check out our original series:
If you want to check out who made our Ultimate Eurovision, check it out here: